Acquired From: Gowrie Galleries
Colouring: Uncoloured
Condition: Very Good
Confirmed: Yes
Date Acquired: 3/5/2002
Dealers ID No.: M113 (STK 841.01)
Description: These twin hemispheric mapsone of the northern hemisphere, the other of the southernare among the most visually arresting additions to the posthumous 1593 edition of Gerard de Jodes Speculum Orbis Terrae. A skilled artist and mapmaker, de Jode first published the Speculum in 1578 in an ambitious but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to rival Abraham Orteliuss Theatrum Orbis Terrarum (see #252 for the 1584 edition). Despite the artistic and geographic quality of his mapsincluding Asia (View Record (#373)) and Eastern Asia (View Record (#24))de Jodes atlas failed to secure a dominant market position, in part due to Orteliuss royal privilege and stronger commercial network.nFollowing de Jodes death in 1591, the Speculum was reissued in 1593 by Arnold Coninx. This edition is typographically distinct: the 1578 maps use Roman numeral pagination, while the 1593 edition features Arabic numerals. It also includes two newly engraved world maps: one on a rectangular projection (Totius orbis cogniti universalis descriptio, dated 1589), and this pair on a polar projection.nThese hemispheric maps are believed to be based on Guillaume Postels lost 1581 wall map and a set of anonymous globe gores from circa 1587possibly engraved by Antoine Wierix and Adrian Collard, who may also have executed these plates. The projection, unusual for its time, anticipates later seventeenth-century developments in global cartography and polar perspective.nThe maps feature a number of distinctive and speculative elements: Northeast Coast of North America: Highly distorted, reflecting incomplete knowledge Japan: Shown as an oversized island positioned near the speculative Streto de Anian East Asia and the Arctic: Linked to one of the mythical Arctic continents, echoing Renaissance theories of polar landmasses Terra Australis Incognita: A vast southern continent encircles the South Pole. Inscriptions describe the Americas as a large and admirable island rich in fertility and resources, noting its discovery under Emperor Charles V and emphasising its climatic diversitytorrid, temperate, and frigid zones included.Elegant windheads, engraved graticules, and humanist Latin text embellish both hemispheres. Together, they reflect the ambitions of late sixteenth-century cosmography: to reconcile ancient theory, new empirical data, and enduring myth into a unified vision of the globe.
First published: Speculum orbis terrae, Antwerp: Arnold Coninx, 1593
Mapmaker: De Jode, Gerard (1568-1600)
Other states: First, 1578
Price: A55,000 plus gst
Primary Category: World
Purchase Reference: Inv. 840
Rarity: R2 Very rare – one or two copies appear on the market
References: Shirley, Printed Maps, pg 202, 184; Skelton, Bibliographical Note, in Speculum Orbis Terrarum, Antwerpen, 1578, by Gerard de Jode, v-x. Dewez, Printed World , Vol III pg 21, map 39. Schilder Australia Unveiled, pg 270-71
Shirley ID #: 184 Mapping the World
Technique: Copper Engraving
This state: 1593
Website: Click here
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